Casting metal ingots



` (No Model.)

J. H. DALLIBA 85 P. BILLINGS.

CASTING METAL INGOTS.

Patented Jan. 5, 1886. i7@- IINTTnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES H. DALLIBA AND FRANK BILLINGS, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

CASTING METAL INGOTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 333,929, dated January 5, 1886.

Application filed. May 26, |885. Serial No. 166,694. (No model.)

To rz/ZZ 107mm 71u03/ concer/t:

Be it known that we, JAMES II. DALLIBA and FRANK BiLLrNos, citizens of the United States, residing in Cleveland, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, have invented certain new and nseful Improvements in Casting Metal Ingots, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accom panying draw ings, forming a part of the same.

This invention consists in a special application of the mechanism describedand claimed by Frank Billings in patent application llo. 155,647, allowed May 5, 1885, and relates to a means for filling a series of ingot-inolds by ruiming the metal into the bottoms of the same from a centrally-disposed ingate or mold. In the said patent application a series ol" ingot-molds were represented as connected each with a separate aperture in the bottom of the same kettle, and provided each with a separate movable plunger, by the movement of which the metal was drawn into the tops of the several molds.

The object of our improvement is to avoid the application of a movable bottom to each of the ingoia-molds and the connection of the same with the bottom of the kettle.

In our present invention only the central ingate or mold opens into the bottom of the kettle, and is connected by radial runners near its lower end with the bottoms of the several ingot-molds, which are arranged around it at convenient distances. In thus connecting the central ingate with the series ol"V molds we may employ any of the means heretofore used for constructing the runners and for attaching them removably to the ingate and to the molds, and have not indicated herein any means of attaching the molds to the runners, as the same forms no part of our present invention.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan of a kettle and series of molds provided with our improvement, and Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same on line x a' in Fig. l.

The central ingate, a, is applied to an aperture, a', in the bottom of the fluid-metal kettle, and is provided with a movable plunger or stopper, b, which is actuated by a piston, c, fitted to a hydraulic cylinder, d, and connected with the stopper by a piston-rod, e, operating through a stufng-box, e, in the top of the cylinder. v The cylinder is sustained in a vertical position upon a bed-plate, F, upon which is sustained by columns G a platform,

H, which carries the runners I and molds J.

Iosts It sustain the kettle Zabove the ingate a, the latter being preferably made in vertical sections, so as to be removed from beneath the kettle after each cast.

m is a pipe supplying water under suitable pressure to a three-way cock, n, which is provided with a handle and operating-rod, l0, to throw the water at pleasure into the pipes p and p', connected, respectively, with the top and bottom of the cylinder.

q and q are outlets connected also to the top and bottom of the cylinder, and rr are cocks in such outlet-pipes.

The bottom of the kettle is setat such a level as to lfeed the ingot-n1olds to the required height, and the stopper b is elevated by the water-pressure and held at or near thel bottom ofthe kettle while the latter is filled with the required charge ofthe (luid metal. To effect such movement ol' the stopper the outletcock r' is closed and the th ree-way cock ais moved, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to introduce the wa ter under pressure beneath the piston c. The ingateis made parallel throughout, so that the metal can enter it only at the saine rate in which the stopper may be moved. The iiuid metal is allowed to stand for a short time in the kettle, to permit the disengagement of any gases contained therein, and the outlet-cock i" being then opened and the cock a shifted, the stopper is moved downward within the ingate until the inner ends of the runners I are exposed, when the nid metal enters all the runners simultaneously and rises gradually in the molds. as shown at s in Fig. 2. XVhile descending in the ingate the duid metal is obviously protected from any contact with the air or any separation of its particles, and as the introduction of the metal into the runners and molds operates to displace the air upward there is no opposition upon the part of such air to the natural dow ot' the metal, nor any tendency on the part of the air to agitato or split up the iiuid metal into a di versity of particles or to mingle intimately therewith. The metal therefore enters the mold entirely free from gaseous admixture and becomes perfectly solid when cooled.

To facilitate the escape of the air as the IOC.

metal advances in the runners, the latter may I be inclined upward from theingate to thc bottomof each mold.

The movement of the metal downward in the ingate is effected solely by the movement of the stopper, but the flow into the molds is afterward effected without any further movement of such stopper. The velocity of the iiow into the molds may, however, be regulated so as to fill the latter at any desired rate by arresting the movement of the stopper when the inner ends of the runners, which open into the ingate, are uncovered to the desired extent. A movable plug may be supplied toV the interior of the kettle to closethe aperture, if desired, asin other bottom-pour7 kettles, and by such means the supply of metal to the ingate may be checked when the molds are iilled to the desired height; but it is preferable to employ the construction shown in the drawings, and to fill the kettle to a marked point with the exact charge required to fill the ingate, the runners, and the molds. The stopper' Z may also be elevated to close the entrance to each runner when the molds are sufciently filled; but such movement of the stopper is not required it' only the proper charge of metal be supplied to the kettle. A facing (shown in a heavy black line upon the upper end of the stopper) indicates a layer of asbes-4 tus or fire-clay, which serves to protect the head of the stopper, and as a packing for the stopper in its movement within the ingate.

ln Fig. l l represents a hexagonal box through which the stopper moves, and to the top of which the ingate may be attached by a flange, t, Fig. 2, and two of the runners are also shown provided in Fig. l with flanges u, fitted to the sides of the same box. Six molds are shown in the plan, but the runners from four of them are not led to the box l, to avoid obscuring the columns k, where they appear in dotted lines beneath the kettle.

The box, runners, and ingate may be made of cast-iron and lined with refractory material, or made partly or wholly of moldingsand, earthenware, or plumbago, as in other construct-ions, where the series of molds is connected with a central ingate.

It is obvious that the contents of the central ingate may be used as an ingot, the size of the same being proportioned as may be desired. The runners may also be reduced'where they `join the ingate and the molds to facilitate the breakage ot' the metal at such points when cold. Such details of the construction are, however, entirely immaterial to the practice of our invention.

XVe hereby disclaim the subject-matter of Patent No. 319,780, issued June 9, 1885, for the patent application No. 155,647, referred to above, and claim herein only the movable stopper when applied to a central ingate connected with a series of surrounding molds by runners, substantially as herein described.

a considerable number of molds at the same time from the same charge of fluid metal, and to thus secure a series of ingotsof homogeneous character. By first settling the metal and disengaging the contained gases therefrom in the kettle Z, and by drawing the metal into the ingate without any contact of the air, we are enabled to fill the molds without any separation of the fluid particles or any admixture of the air therewith. Ve thus secure great density in the metal of the ingots, freedom from blow-holes and porosity, and from any piping other than that which results from the natural shrinkage in the head of the ingot upon cooling.

It is obvious that any other class of molds could be arranged and operated the same as the ingot-molds shown herein, and that the ingate with a descending stopper may be used to fill one, two. three. or any larger number of molds from the bottom upward.

Although the kettle Z is shown herein as if permanently mounted upon the posts lc, and the ingate is described as being removable laterally from beneath the kettle after each cast, this part of the construction is entirely immaterial, as the kettle may be a removable ladle or vessel supported entirely by the ingate itself, and entirely detached from the latter after each cast.

Having thus described our invention, we claim the same in the following manner:

l. The combination, with a mold, a vertical ingate, and a runner connecting the mold and ingate at their lower ends, of a movable stopper fitted within the ingate and operated to draw the fluid metal down into the ingate to the mouth of the runner, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, with a series of molds, a vertical ingate, and a series of runners connecting the mold and ingate at their lower end, of a movable stopper fitted within the ingate and operated to draw the fluid metal down into the ingate to the mouths of the runners, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The apparatus for casting a series of ingots, consisting in the molds J, runners I, ingate a, and the kettle Z, detachably secured together, as described, and the stopper tted to the ingate at the bottom of the kettle while filling the latter with fluid metal, and means for lowering the stopper to the mouths of the runners, in order to fill the molds, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. r

JAMES H. DALLIBA. FRANK BILLINGS.

Witnesses:

L. LEE, Taos. S. CRANE.

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